MIAMI-DADE Ballot Fraud: Is Al Lorenzo's Quantum Results and Homestead's 2009 Election A Possible House of Cards?

 

Quantum Results Worked For The Frank May Led PAC and The Reincarnated "Fab Five" Candidates It Supported, Mayor Steven Bateman and Councilman Jimmie Williams in 2009. Now, There Are Serious Concerns Involving The Firm. Will There Be Any Local Fallout?

  http://www.quantumresults.net/political-work.html

Two Political Enemies of The PBA Carlos Gimenez and Katherine Fernandez-Rundle Have Had to Distance Themselves From Quantum Results. Should One Assume The PBA Hierarchy, Who Heavily Supported Mayor Bateman, Steve Shelley and Judy Waldman, Possibly Knowing How Quantum Results May Have Operated In Homestead Ultimately Allowed Nature to Take It's Course, So to Speak, for the PBA Endorsed Candidates?

The above appeared on the PBA website until recently, PBA actually took credit for the wins by saying the "PBA is changing the face of government." That statement does have a gaping hole in it. Wasn't Bateman defeated by Amanda Garner as an incumbent? Some change. Remember the famous words of a South African gentleman, you can't teach a cat to bark.

 

By Patricia Mazzei, Charles Rabin and Marc Caputo

pmazzei@MiamiHerald.com

Fired from one campaign and chastised by another, veteran Miami political consultant Al Lorenzo finds himself in a position where no political operative wants to be: in the news.
Lorenzo, 60, lost his lucrative post in Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s reelection campaign Monday for failing to disclose that one of his subcontractors has a lengthy criminal record. Lorenzo remains on Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle’s reelection payroll, but she asked him to keep the subcontractor and career felon, Gerardo Judas “Jerry” Ramos, away from her race.
http://politicsmiami.com/forgers-criminal-past-haunts-miami-dade-campaigns/

The moves capped a tumultuous week in local politics, following an investigation into ballot fraud in Hialeah. The probe rippled across the county, with chatter that Lorenzo was somehow linked to Deisy Cabrera, charged with absentee-ballot fraud, and that he had created a potential conflict of interest for Fernández Rundle. She recused herself from the case after Cabrera was arrested last week, citing unconfirmed reports that linked her campaign to Cabrera.
Lorenzo has flatly denied any connection to Cabrera, and Fernández Rundle has not clarified which person working on her campaign was allegedly seen with Cabrera.
“There’s an old saying that any press is good press,” said Screven Watson, a consultant for former Democratic candidates Rod Smith and Dave Aronberg. “That’s true — unless it’s about a staff person or campaign consultant … Most consultants understand that and take themselves out.”
Lorenzo is not just any consultant.

A mainstay of Miami-Dade politics, he has earned about $5 million in fees from 148 campaigns since 2000. A registered Democrat and lobbyist, he has also worked for top Republicans like former Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio and congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, while also pulling in $50,000 from the state Democratic Party in 2008 to help President Barack Obama get out the vote. His firm, Quantum Results, earned nearly $1 million from back-to-back efforts to persuade county voters to approve Las Vegas-style slot machines.

For Lorenzo, the latest spate of bad press comes as he juggles at least eight — formerly nine, counting Gimenez — candidates on the Aug. 14 ballot, excluding municipal candidates. Known as a judicial-campaign specialist, he has been paid by about 20 additional judicial candidates who did not draw opponents.
Not all of his clients appear happy with his services. Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Jimmy Morales hired Lorenzo for his 2004 mayoral campaign runoff against Carlos Alvarez. Asked if Lorenzo helped his race, Morales said, “Well, I didn’t win.”

Lorenzo did not respond to a call or email for comment Tuesday. He did not answer the door at his fenced, ranch-style home off Sunset Drive.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/07/2938639/consultant-ends-up-in-tough-spot.html#storylink=cpy

Other Stories:  
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2012-08-09/news/absentee-ballot-fraud-is-wrecking-democracy-in-miami/

  http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/08/carlos_gimenez_dumps_al_lorenz.php

  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/07/1117718/-Miami-Dade-Democrats-DID-consider-Rubio-crony?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=feed

  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/06/1117389/-The-case-of-the-Miami-Dade-Democrats-absentee-ballot-mystery

 http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/07/2938705/boria-doral-should-cut-ties-to.html

http://www.thecrespogramreport.com/Site_10/FERNANDEZ-RUNDLE_RECUSAL.html

 

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/07/2938639/consultant-ends-up-in-tough-spot.html

 

Read More

Videos Show Two Unprovoked Attacks, One Is On Line

 

 

Video Is On Line: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/03/2931037/videos-said-to-show-homestead.html#storylink=cpy

 

Videos were released Friday that prosecutors said provided damaging evidence against Homestead Police Sgt. Jeffery Rome, who is accused of assaulting two people, one a 69-year-old man

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/03/2931037/videos-said-to-show-homestead.html#storylink=cpy

By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

The Miami-Dade state attorney’s office on Friday released videos that prosecutors say show Homestead Police Sgt. Jeffery Rome kicking a 69-year old man unconscious and pepper-spraying another man repeatedly in the face.

The videos are part of the evidence the state will use to prosecute Rome, who was one of three Homestead police officers arrested last month in connection with a string of alleged attacks outside a Homestead bar where migrant and immigrant farm workers go for a night out.

Rome’s attorney, C. Michael Cornely, declined to comment for this article, saying he hadn’t seen the videos.
“I’ll be looking at it, so I really can’t comment,” he said.
Cornely added: “I still believe in my client’s innocence, and I’m glad we have the evidence.”

Two of the alleged attacks involving Rome were captured on blurry videos shot by detectives who were watching the bar as part of a human trafficking investigation. Instead, investigators say they stumbled across a case of repeated police brutality.

One video purportedly shows Rome leaning on a police car outside the bar, arms folded. Minutes before, a man is seen standing in the road with a bicycle.

Though the video has no audio, an arrest warrant states that Rome told the man with the bicycle, identified as Arcadio Sosa Rodriguez, to leave. In the video, Rodriguez stands in the road for a few moments, and then crosses the street and appears to talk to a woman there.

The officer appears to watch Rodriguez for about 30 seconds before walking briskly across the street into oncoming traffic. He grabs the man from behind by the collar and the man falls to the ground.

Rodriguez appears to be dragged between a white SUV and a silver PT Cruiser and can’t be seen. But witnesses say it was then that Rome kicked Rodriguez unconscious. In about 35 seconds, the alleged attack is over and the officer walks back across the street.

Rodriguez lies on the sidewalk, his shirt pulled halfway off. Two witnesses watch him from the road.
Then, the officer walks back over, bends over Rodriguez, and appears to shake him. The officer leaves, only to walk over again and pour water on Rodriguez’s face.

Rodriguez sits up, propping himself up with one arm. A small crowd forms and someone drives away in the PT Cruiser, leaving an unobstructed view. A man in a cowboy hat struggles to help Rodriguez up while the police officer appears to watch with his hand on his hips. Rodriguez eventually walks away.

Detectives later caught up with him and brought him to the hospital, according to an arrest warrant.
Rodriguez had cuts and bruises on his ankle, knees and elbow, and was in the hospital at least overnight, according to the warrant.

Another video allegedly shows Rome outside the bar when a man in a gray striped shirt and long baggy shorts walks up. The two appear to talk, and an arrest warrant states Rome told the man, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, to leave. In the video, the officer appears to hold up his arm, with something black clutched in his fist.

The man appears to leave, but comes back about 15 minutes later, reportedly to tell Rome that someone just tried to rob him. He stands in front of the officer for about five seconds before the officer lifts his arm twice, apparently pepper spraying the man in the face from close range.

The man appears out of the camera’s shot for about a minute, but then comes back. The officer follows him, appearing to spray the man in the face again.

The man starts to walk away, and the officer stalks him down the street, walking into oncoming traffic, the word “POLICE” visible across the back of his shirt in yellow letters.

Rome, a veteran in the department, faces felony charges of abuse of an elderly adult and false imprisonment.

He also faces a misdemeanor battery charge in another incident outside the club, during which Rome is accused of pepper-spraying another man in the face and handcuffing him to a fence while an ambulance the man had called looked for him.

In a separate incident outside the bar, Homestead Police officer Giovanni Soto was also arrested for allegedly hitting a man in the face with a nightstick, leaving the man with stitches, and later dumping him at home after he called an ambulance. Homestead Sgt. Lizanne Deegan was also arrested for allegedly not writing a report about the incident.
 
Miami Herald reporter Kristofer Rios contributed to this report.
 
Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/03/2931037/videos-said-to-show-homestead.html#storylink=cpy

Read More

Homestead Cop Pleads Not Guilty To Charges Of Attacks Outside Bar

 

 

Homestead Police Sgt. Jeffery Rome entered a not guilty plea for charges that he beat up and pepper-sprayed men outside a bar frequented by migrant workers

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/01/2926510/homestead-cop-pleads-not-guilty.html#storylink=cpy

By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

Jeffrey Rome, the Homestead Police sergeant accused of beating up and pepper-spraying patrons at a bar where he worked off-duty, entered a not-guilty plea Wednesday for the felony charges he faces.
Rome and two other Homestead police officers were arrested in July on charges related to a string of alleged attacks last year at Celio’s Latin Quarter, a bar where many migrant and immigrant agricultural workers frequent.

The sergeant, who was not in court, faces felony charges of abuse of an elderly adult and false imprisonment. He also faces a misdemeanor battery charge.

Sgt. Lizanne Deegan and Officer Giovanni Soto are also accused of misconduct after Soto allegedly hit a man in the face and hand with a nightstick — leaving the man with five stitches — and Deegan didn’t write a report on the incident. Soto faces an additional felony battery charge.

All three have been suspended from the department with pay since April 2011.

C. Michael Cornely, an attorney representing Rome, questioned in court why, after more than a year of investigation, he still hadn’t been provided with all the state’s evidence against his client. For that reason, the judge on Wednesday did not set a trial date.

Prosecutor Breezye Telfair said the evidence would be available by the end of this week.

Two of the alleged attacks involving Rome were caught on camera, according to arrest warrants. Homestead detectives had been scoping out the bar for a separate human-trafficking investigation when they recorded Rome allegedly pepper-spraying a man in the face three times, and also dragging an elderly man to the ground and kicking him unconscious, according to the arrest warrant.

Both of the men told investigators they had gone to Rome for help after people tried to rob them.

Rome also pepper-sprayed another man in the face, handcuffed him to a fence, and sent away an ambulance that the man had called for, according to an arrest warrant.

The Police Benevolent Association union has blasted the investigation into the three Homestead police officers as politically motivated and has questioned the competency of Homestead police leaders.

Rome is on the PBA’s board of directors, according to the union’s website. Cornely suggested Rome’s union activities put him at odds with department brass.

“I think this case was brought as a vendetta against Sergeant Rome by the current regime at the Homestead Police Department,” he said.

Homestead Det. Fernando Morales didn’t immediately return requests for a comment.
 
Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/01/2926510/homestead-cop-pleads-not-guilty.html#storylink=cpy

Read More

Details Released Of Alleged Series Of Police Attacks

 

 

By DAVID OVALLE

dovalle@MiamiHerald.com

Three Homestead police officers were arrested Monday night on charges stemming from a series of alleged attacks — two of which were caught on video — on men outside a bar last year.

The main target: Sgt. Jeffrey Rome, who, according to arrest warrants, beat or pepper-sprayed at least three men outside Celio’s Latin Quarter Bar. At least two of the incidents were caught on videotape by undercover detectives who had the bar under surveillance for an unrelated investigation into human trafficking.

The other officers are Sgt. Lizanne Deegan and Giovanni Soto, who are accused of misconduct involving a man who was beaten up outside the bar and later was hospitalized in February 2011.

Rome, 56, is charged with battery, false imprisonment and abuse of an elderly adult. Soto, 40, is charged with battery and official misconduct, while Deegan, 44, is charged with official misconduct.

The three were suspended with pay in April 2011. They were formally arrested on Monday. They later were released from a Miami-Dade County Jail after posting bail, hopped a wall to avoid members of the press and then climbed into a waiting black SUV, which sped away.

“After 15 months, I believe in my client’s innocence,” said C. Michael Cornely, who is representing Rome. “I believe at the end of the day, he will be vindicated.”

According to the arrest warrants, Rome worked off-duty outside the bar, 38 NE Ninth St., frequented by a crowd of mostly Hispanic migrant workers who live and work in Homestead.
In April 2011, according to the court documents, detectives witnessed a man speaking with Rome before leaving. He walked back a short time later and Rome pepper sprayed him three times outside the bar, the warrant said.

Detective Antonio Aquino and Ricky Rivera later rushed to his aid, offering him medical help. He refused, the warrant said.

The man later told detectives and prosecutor Breezye Telfair that someone had tried to rob him as he walked away and that he went running back to Rome to seek his help. He identified Rome in a photo lineup.

On another occasion in April 2011, Aquino and Rivera saw Rome drag an elderly man away from the bar, kicking him in the head — an altercation also captured on video. Rome was seen pouring water on the man, who had been lying down for seven minutes, the warrant said. The man later told detectives that two men had tried to rob him of his bicycle and that he had sought out Rome for help.

Rome also is accused of pepper spraying another man, the warrant shows. As for Deegan and Soto, they were charged in connection to an alleged beating outside Celio’s Latin Quarter Bar.

The man claimed Soto beat him up, and then dropped him off at his home “like he was a dog and was refused medical treatment.”

According to an arrest warrant, Soto called 911 and an ambulance took the victim to Homestead Hospital.
Deegan followed him to the hospital, took photos and gave him her card with a case number on it. But prosecutors say she covered up the case by failing to write a report on the incident.

Richard Sharpstein, her lawyer, said Deegan, charged with official misconduct, believed that the drunken man had been in a bar fight and that she had no legal obligation to author a report.
 
Miami Herald Photographer Charles Trainor Jr. also contributed to this report.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/02/2879157/three-homestead-officers-to-be.html#storylink=cpy

Read More

PBA Going After Chief Rolle, Says Arrests Are "Politically" Motivated, Will Mayor Bateman Defend His City's Chief Or Side With His Pals?

  

PBA President John Rivera

Chief Alexander Rolle

Mayor Steve Bateman who has three PBA tags on his vehicles

PBA Vice-President Steadman Stahl, Close Friend of Steve Bateman

Bateman posing with PBA Board Members

Three Homestead police officers are out of jail on bond after being arrested in connection with a beating outside a bar.

Sergeant Jeffrey Rome and Officer Giovanni Soto are accused of taking part in at least two incidents that were caught on surveillance video.
Sergeant Lizanne Deegan is accused of failing to file a police report with one of the victims.

The alleged attacks happened in April of last year outside Celio's Latin Quarter located at Northeast 9th Street near Southwest 177th Avenue.

According to the arrest affidavit for one of the officers, "Homestead Police Sergeant Jeffrey Rome was captured on video as he grabbed a visibly elderly man by the collar and pulled down until the man was on the ground at which point Sergeant Rome dragged the man from the roadway to the sidewalk. As the man lay motionless on the ground, Sergeant Rome is seen kicking the man in the head."

The head of the police union says the arrests are politically motivated and has called for an investigation into the Homestead Police chief.

John Rivera says Sgt. Rome was trying to prevent the man from entering the bar because he was drunk and belligerent.
All three officers have been suspended with pay since June of last year, according to Homestead police.

• Copyright 2012 by Post Newsweek.

http://www.local10.com/news/3-Homestead-officers-charged-in-2011-beating/-/1717324/15382120/-/view/print/-/vmoar2z/-/index.html

Read More

Even More Details Released On Alleged Homestead Police Beatings

Three Homestead Police officers bonded out of jail Monday night after being charged in connection with two 2011 assaults outside a Homestead bar, according to court records.

Officer Giovanni Soto, 40, faces charges of felony battery and official misconduct of a public servant, and Sgt. Lizanne Deegan, 44, faces a charge of official misconduct of a public servant in connection with a beating on Feb. 6, 2011, according to their arrest warrant.

Sgt. Jeffrey Rome, 56, of Homestead, who was implicated in the first incident, faces a charge of battery after he pepper-sprayed a 24-year-old Hispanic man outside the same establishment, Celio’s Latin Quarter Bar, on April 17, 2011, his arrest warrant said.

A Hispanic male told police that on Feb. 6, 2011 he was kicked out of the bar – called Celio's Cuartel Latino in Spanish – at 38 NE 9th St. because it was getting late, and said that he was waiting outside the bar with a friend when a policeman told him to go home. The male told the officer that he could not go home because he was waiting for his ride, and the officer took an object from his belt that looked like a metal stick and struck him in the mouth with it, Internal Affairs Detective Antonio Aquino wrote in the arrest warrant.

After the victim fell to the ground, the officer struck him on the hand with the same object, the warrant said. The victim later identified Soto as the officer who hit him, and Rome as the officer who saw the incident but did not help him, according to the warrant.

When the victim’s ride arrived, his friend took him to NW 2nd Street and NW 2nd Avenue, where the victim called 911, saying that he was bleeding badly and in a lot of pain. A police car arrived and the officer inside told the victim in Spanish, “Let’s go. I’ll take you home,” according to the warrant.

The officer – who he was unable to see but was Soto – took him to his home and did not offer medical assistance, according to the warrant.

The victim again called 911. This time several police cars and an ambulance showed up, and the victim told his story to a female police officer who said that she would take care of his report. The woman, Sgt. Deegan, provided the victim with a “case card” containing her name and phone number, according to the warrant.

In the first version of events Soto gave to Aquino, he indicated that he attempted to save the victim from getting “beat up” by Rome, Aquino wrote. Soto said that the victim was injured after he grabbed his hand, and Soto, startled, pushed the victim to the ground, Aquino wrote.

In his second version of events, Soto said that when he arrived at Celio’s the victim was already “beat up” and bleeding, and that Rome was already screaming at the victim, so Soto decided to take the victim away so he wouldn’t get “beat up again,” Aquino wrote.

“Officer Soto confirmed he thought Sergeant Deegan would cover up the issue and confirmed that his was not the first time he witnessed Sergeant Rome cause injury to patrons at Celio’s. Officer Soto stated that he didn’t report this because he was afraid of what could happen to his job,” Aquino wrote.

Neither Soto nor Deegan ever reported the incident to an investigation detective or internal affairs, and neither one prepared a report on the injury and accusation of the victim, Aquino wrote.

A Homestead Police dispatcher, Mariza Ramos, said that she and other midnight shift dispatchers received numerous calls from Hispanic males at Celio’s, Aquino wrote.

“According to Dispatcher Ramos, the Hispanic males made frequent complaints of being beaten and pepper-sprayed by Homestead Police on the nights Homestead Police Sergeant Jeffrey Rome worked the off-duty detail at Celio’s,” Aquino wrote.

In the April 2011 incident, Rome pepper-sprayed a 24-year-old Hispanic man three times, his arrest warrant said.

The man told police that Sgt. Rome would not let him re-enter the bar early on April 17, and that he pointed an “electric gun” at him and told him to leave. But when the man walked away he was almost robbed by someone else, and when he returned to Celio’s to tell Rome that, the sergeant pulled out his pepper spray and sprayed him three times, Aquino wrote in the arrest warrant.

Rome used Freeze + P, which Aquino described in the warrant as “the strongest pepper spray and tear gas mix available for non-military use.”

All three officers were placed on paid administrative leave last year as the incidents were investigated.

Homestead Police declined to comment Monday.

Read More

Three HPD Officers To Be Arrested

 

Three Homestead officers to be arrested in beating case

By DAVID OVALLE
The Miami Herald

 

Three Homestead police officers were expected to be booked into jail Monday night on charges stemming from the alleged beatings of migrant workers more than a year ago, their defense lawyers said.
The officers: Lizanne Deegan and Jeffrey Rome, both sergeants, and Govanni Soto.

All three have been suspended with pay since April 2011. Details of the alleged crimes were not available Monday night. 

A Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office spokesman declined comment.
Reached Monday, lawyers for two of the officers said their clients had done nothing wrong.

“After 15 months, I believe in my client’s innocence,” saidd C. Michael Cornely, who is representing Rome.

“I believe at the end of the day, he will be vindicated.”

Richard Sharpstein, who is representing Deegan, said he believes his client will be charged with official misconduct for allegedly failing to document the beating of a man a South Miami-Dade nursery.

He said Deegan did take the man to a hospital and suggested he file a complaint against the officer who alleged beat him.

“She did everything absolutely right,” Sharpstein said.

The officers are being represented by the Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/02/v-print/2879157/three-homestead-officers-to-be.html#storylink=cpy

Read More